In Cold Blood
by VocalSynthesia
Summary: Continuation of 'Love and Lies' Life seems to return in peace after Tiana's stalker finally is gone. But, when both Subaru and her go chase an wanted criminal gang, an bomb went off. That's just the beginning of their journey to keep themselves and the ci
1. Time Stop

_**TIANA'S POV**_

Through a window from aside I see the white flash of the ignition. I start to scream, but it is too late. The speed of which my world now changed is baffling. A wave of warmth throws me aside and pours a rain of glass shards on me. While falling I see my partner disappear in a cloud of dust and debris while the door is taken out of its rods and flies through the alley and smacks against the wall across the street.

I lay on the ground, with a bitter taste of dust in my mouth. I sit down on my knees and feel the blood on my cheek and dripping from my nose. I bring my hand to my head and feel a piece of glass which has penetrated into my scalp.

I scramble with difficulty and stagger to my feet. I even tend to fall, but still manage to keep my balance. My partner is lying motionless on the ground, on her back. I walk as fast as I can to her and kneel down. Her face is covered with small cuts.

"Subaru?"

I pull her blouse open, put my fingers on her neck until I hear a heartbeat. Her chest is now going fast and light up and down.

"Subaru?" I call again. "Subaru, can you hear me?"

She blinks a few times with her eyes and turns them on me, and she tries to get up. But I push her back. Her lips are moving but no sound is coming. I do not know what she means and was slightly panicked when she keeps talking without sound.

I report that an officer is injured and stay with her, her hand tenacious.

'T-Tia ... I-I love ... y-you ... "With difficulty she squeezes the words out of her body before her eyes closed. Inside my head, something snapped. I had to find that bastard. He had ruined my life. When Subaru shot him on the roof of the skyscraper I thought everything was finally over.

But it was not.

He apparently has more helpers to kill me, even now he was dead. In the distance sounded sirens of patrol cars and an ambulance, which approached close quickly. The pain of glass shard began to penetrate as a thumping sound in my ears.

My vision started to decrease when I felt more pain in my body strong. With difficulty I looked down, and saw a piece of splintered wood had supplanted in my midriff. I had felt nothing all this time. Blood flows from my mouth on my chin and chest while I slowly collapse next to my unconscious partner.


	2. Heartbeats

_**SUBARU'S POV**_

The sound swells and dies away again. It is stronger. Voices, it's murmur of voices, sometimes close, sometimes further away. I open my eyes a bit, but immediately close them against the bright light.

"She's waking up."

An unknown voice fills my ears. I turn my head in the direction of the voice and breathe deeply. In the middle I stop abruptly. A twinge shrieks through my chest. Pain, terrible pain. I blink my eyes frantically to avoid I sink into sleep again. I want to know where I am, how I got here, why I'm here.

I feel that I am lying on my back, on a much too high pillow. This cannot be in our apartment, I have a low pillow there. Where am I? I feel the fog in my head slowly fade away. Slowly I open my eyes completely, fill them with sharp, bright light.

The pain in my chest slowly pulls away and I realize that I'm in a white room. Carefully I look around me. I see two nurses, but I cannot hear them. They talk to me, but my hearing is like a hammer rage in my head. I fight against it and slowly thumping sound disappears.

"W-where am I?"

'Oh, you're awake .. You're in the hospital. You are brought here after a bomb went off. "

My vision cleared slowly. The blur disappear and give way to bright, clear images.

"Can you remember anything?"

I thought, but the more I thought, the more headaches I got. Carefully I shook my head.

"Am I harmed?"

'You've broken some ribs, and had a punctured lung, but you've already been under surgery. You had the luck that your partner called for help! And you've been in coma for two days.'

'In coma? And where is my partner? Is she okay? Where is she? I need to see her!'

_Silence_

I hate it if no-one answers your question. So I force myself out of bed under protest of the nurses and start walking through the halls. I walk along some small rooms, rooms with doctors everywhere, rooms with children, but no-one with my partner. My chest hurts, but I try to ignore it.

Suddenly, my eye caught a small, white room at the end of the hall. The curtains are closed, the door is closed, at first I thought it was an empty one. I hear a nurse calling my name, that I mustn't open that door. But I have already touched it with my fingers, push the knob down and enter the room.

My eyes see an image I won't forget anymore. Tears are welling up in my eyes, no matter how hard I fight to keep them away. The image before my eyes blurs, but I saw it long enough. My partner, my love, lays immovable in the big, white hospital bed. Her midriff is, as far I can see, covered with bandages.

I feel a hand on my shoulder, someone whispers something in my ear. But I don't hear it. I don't _want _to hear it at all. In my head, I see her pale face, filled with pain. I know she's sleeping, but I want her to wake up, I want to hold her. The pulling on my shoulder starts to irritate me so I turn around, looking a doctor in the face.

'She's sleeping. You should rest, too. You're forcing too much on your chest!'

I let out a sigh, before turning my head to the scene before me. 'Is she alright?'

'From the information I have, it seems she has a deep cut in her midriff, but it didn't hit her vital organs. She's out of life danger, but it may take a few days for a full recover to her. The same for you. One of your bones punctured your right lung, as you maybe already heard. You've been under surgery for that. If you still feel pain in your chest after three weeks, then you should contact us.'

'Thank you...'

With that, I slowly head back to my room, lay down in the now cold bed and close my eyes, drifting away in a deep sleep.


	3. Unknown Destination

_**UNKNOW DESTINATION **_

Heavy footsteps sound on a blood-covered floor. Fingers covered with the same liquid tapping on the metal-made weapon. Eyes are finding its way in the darkness, to the exit of this hell. His fingertips have already touched the door of the emergency exit when he heard other footsteps.

They stop right behind him, making him turn around. The last thing he sees, is the tip of a golden bullet before it crash in his forehead, killing him instantly. With a dull sound his body drops on the floor, eyes wide open, his finger still on the trigger of his gun, blood from his head staining his uniform. His killer is standing before his dead body, with an cold look in the eyes.

'You bastards are trying to get me and my gang. But that won't happen. Not as long as I live. Not as long as I don't kill _her.' _

While picking up his phone and turning away from the dead officer, he walks away, along the other dead bodied which covered the floor with blood, before hiding in the shadows.


	4. Resting

_**NORMAL POV**_

The orange-haired officer sat upright in bed, supported by pillows in her back. In her hands she held a cup of warm coffee, slowly nipping from it while a police report about some fled criminals was laying in her lap. It didn't really fascinate her since she wasn't ready to work on the field again.

'It's been a few days now and I'm still in this damned hospital... Ouch!'

Some irritating stitches shot trough her midriff because the bandage moved. The wound was healing up well, but it still hurts when she made a single move so she got advice to stay in bed. She woke up out of her thoughts when someone knocked the door.

'Come in.'

'Afternoon, Tia!'

Subaru walked in the room, grabbed a chair and gave her a kiss before she sat down. Even though Tia told her she didn't have to visit her everyday, still she did. It made her feel better, her partner said.

'So, anything happened today?'

'Well...' Subaru's face dropped the light smile. 'Do you know Jean-Paul?'

'From the homicide department? Yes, why?'

'He... was murdered two days ago. We can't find the culprit.'

'...Murdered?... Who would do such a thing like that?'

'I have no idea who, but we'll keep searching... What are you thinking about?'

Her partner's face froze, like her minds were completly OFF. Eyes stared in nowhere, her body didn't move.

'Tia?...'

She regained ''consciousness'' and snapped her eyes open.

'Could it be the same man I saw before the explosion?!'

'That's possible...' Subaru's phone went off. 'I have to go. I'll speak you tommorow.' After a good-bye and a kiss she left. Tiana put the papers aside and laid down. Slowly, while thinking, she drifted away in sleep.

When she woke up she even didn't know what time it was. Through the white see-through curtains for the window there wasn't even a spark of sunlight anymore, so it must be nighttime already.

She turned her head to the left, to turn away again right after. Those eyes, full of hatred, stared at her.

'Hello, officer Lanster. Do you remember me?' The man spoke, while walking towards her bed. Tiana's lips were frozen; her _body _was frozen. Her mouth dry, but altough she couldn't move herself her hands were shaking. All color drained from her face when she saw the knife in his hand.

And he moved closer and closer... Until the knife flashed above his head, darting towards her chest.


	5. Resting (2)

_**NORMAL POV**_

The knife stopped right above her chest. It didn't pierce, it didn't gave any pain. No blood flows, absolutly nothing. Only the tip of the sharp blade was pointing at it, nothing more. He pulled away and looked at the girl. She wasn't worth to be killed so early. How old was she? 20, maybe 21?

A tiny, golden spark flashed somewhere. He looked at the hand, which was shaking heavy. A small golden ring was around one of her fingers. Was she married? At this age? It couldn't be... He took the small ring between two fingers and turned it round and round, but there was no date, not even a name!

'So, you're not married?' His voice was cold, emotionless. His hand grabbed her chin. Her eyes stood full of- what first was fear- raw hatred. His face made a grin while he dropped the knife.

'Let's meet again somewhere, officer!'

SLAM!

The door was shut behind him when he left with a grin on his face. Now he was gone, her voice came back. She trembled badly, tears came up and she cried without sound, until she fell asleep in thoughts it was just a dream.

* * *

'Morning, Tia! You don't believe what happened yesterday after I left! We-'

Silence. Her friend was nowhere to be seen. Her bed was untouched, smoothed. The closet was - when she checked it- empty. The curtains were open, her weapon belt was gone. Completely nothing.

'What the-' She walked outside and called a nurse. She told her that Tiana left early this morning.

'Why? She wasn't fully recovered, was she?'

'No.' The nurse shook her head. 'She wasn't at all. We don't have any idea why she'd left so early. She seemed scared of something, though.'

'Any idea where she went?'

'Maybe home? But, I need to go care for other patients. Say hi from me, okay?'

* * *

'Tia, I'm home!' Subaru shouted through their house, just to make sure Tiana heard her.

'I'm upstairs! Ow...' She musn't shout or yell, or even talk loud because when she did, her chest hurt her. She turned when the door of their bedroom was opened.

'Yo! Tia, why did you leave? I was friggin' worried!'

'Sorry...' was the anwser in a murmur. Subaru stared at her like she was naked.

'What?' The egde of her voice was sharp, suprising the woman before her once again.

'Tia, did something happen when I was gone? Was someone killed or something? Was there a bomb?' Subaru walked to the bed and sat next to her, looking at her.

'I-' She stopped mid-sentence. _Almost _she told her what happened last night. But she didn't want to. She didn't want to make her worry even more. After all, she was the one who cared for her like she was the only one in the world for her. Those green eyes were staring through her soul like she could read her minds.

'It's nothing, I'm just a bit tired.'

'From what? Resting?'

_Silence_

'Nevermind. How did it go?'

'Did what go?'

The redhead sighed in slight irritation and face-palmed her.

'This is seriously unbelievable! I'm talking about that bomb-thing under the bank building! You got a call, right? When you visited me in the hospital! It was on the news a few hours later!'

'You mean that case? It didn't really work out as we thought... That bomb was the same type which nearly killed us. After we sealed it it started to... smell weird...'

'Smell? A gas leak?'

'That's what we thought, too. Until we came in the parking lot.'

Both women already sat down on the bed, but Subaru stood up, walking to the window which gave sight to the small backyard with grass and colorful flowers.

'First we found Jean-Paul. Killed with one bullet, through the head. The team couldn't recognize the weapon, I think it's an .22 but we still are waiting for the lab results.'

'A .22? The same type we use...'

'Yes. We found several more corpses, spread out over the parking lot. And all of them were killed another way Jean-Paul was. Their faces were kind of smashed, totally maimed so we couldn't recognize most of them.'

Subaru's face shaded, but Tiana didn't see it. A deadly silence felt over the room. Sunlight fell through the window, as the sun tried to chear up the situation, but it didn't make any sense at all. The mood dropped to the lowest point there was.

'So...' Tiana broke the silence after minutes. 'Who do you think it is?'

'The patterns just aren't right. I mean, first we thought it was a crazy dude who tried to kill people with making bombs, right? And now we have the same type bombs ánd a serial killer in the profile.'

'It might be the same person? I mean, when I saw-' _Shit! Now it's too late! _

'Hm? Who did you see? In the hospital?'

'I'm threatened with a knife by a man. The night in the hospital when you had that bomb-case. He didn't kill me. I think it's because the ring you gave me sometime back.'

'You've been threatened?! And you didn't tell me?!'

'I didn't want to make you worry more about me...'

Subaru sighed deep. 'Sometimes you really confuse me, you know? And, by the way, what time is it? I'm starving!'

'It's just 11:25 am! Why are you always hungry, you idiot?!'


End file.
